Today we walked from Triacastela to Sarria, a relatively light day. Not that it felt like it when the first hour and a half was an uphill climb. We’ve learned not to trust Google maps when it comes to elevation reports—everything is always “relatively flat” but somehow quite hilly. Nevertheless…

Days on the Camino fall into a sort of pattern. Rise early, repack the bag as needed, grab breakfast if possible (it’s not served in every albergue, and most local establishments don’t open until much later), and hit the road. Along the way, we stop for second, and sometimes third, breakfasts—café con leche, zumo de naranja, a croissant or slice of tarta de Santiago. Lunch is usually on the road too—often a bocadillo (an incredibly tough hunk of bread with cheese and the ever-present jamón) or tortilla española. Today we walked about eight miles before finding second breakfast and were in Sarria before we stopped for a bocadillo, so the rhythm was a bit off. On this walk, it’s literally the small things.

Our place in Sarria is a dormitory—20 beds, a men’s bath and a women’s bath with one toilet each. A few beds seem to be occupied, but at this writing (10 pm) it’s hard to tell which of the voices in the courtyard are our bunk mates. The sun is just now setting, and it’s still light enough to see into the courtyard, where a random dog is barking. At eleven, it will be lights out. We had a lovely dinner with Margharita from Bologna, an urban planner walking the Camino from O Cebreiro by herself. Sarria seems like a huge town in comparison to the shuttered towns we’ve walked through, but Wiki tells me it’s only 39,000. Towns here are built up and close, so there are no big lawns or front yards. People have much more contact with each other; they simply have to get along to make it work.

My eyelids are getting heavy—so it’s time for the day’s photo dump. Tomorrow, 22 km to Portomarin. -Paula